DEVELOPMENT 
COMMUNICATION 
UNIT 1  

TOPIC 1: Development Communication: Definition, Meaning 

and Process 

Definition 
● The Term Development Communication was coined by Nora Quebral in December 10, 
1971. 

● Development communication is an art and science of human communication applied to 

speedy transformation of a country and a mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic 
state of economic growth so as to achieve greater social equality – Nora Quebral 

● It is a process of strategic intervention towards social change initiated by institutions 

and communities – Wilkins and Moody (2001) 

● Development is essentially maximizing the production of goods and services available in 
a country. Lack of it is defined as underdevelopment. Going by the international 
encyclopedia development may be described as “purposive changes undertaken in a 
society to achieve what may be regarded generally as a different (improved) state of 
social and economic affairs.” The notion of development is basic to development 
communication. 

DC 
● Sociologists, psychologists, economists and communication experts are of the 
opinion that the proper use of communication can foster the pace and process of 
development. In general terms, communication means interaction between two 
individuals or within a group or a community or a nation. The foundation of 
communication is based upon four principal elements ----- communication source, a 
message, a channel or medium and a receiver or audience. But in development 

 
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communication it becomes the process of affecting or influencing behavior of 
individuals or groups towards certain desired goals and objectives, necessarily for 
the benefit of the entire society. Thus, the receiver is expected to show the 
behaviour desired by the source of communication.  

● Development communications are organized efforts to use communications 

processes and media to bring social and economic improvements of an individual, 
society or nation (generally in developing countries). It identifies what mass media 
can do directly or indirectly to improve the quality of life to both urban and rural 
masses.  

● The second half of the 20th century brought a tradition of communication research and 
practice geared toward Third World development needs, an area known as development 
communication (devcom).  

● Research and projects addressing devcom flourished during the First Development 
Decade in the 1960s.  
● Development communication started getting recognised for its importance in 
Socio-cultural, economic and political developments and utilization of its approaches. 
● Development Communication has been subjected to intellectual scepticism and public 
doubts and has been misinterpreted and misapplied. 
● The greatest challenge the communicator faces is the preparation and distribution of 
development messages to millions of people in such a way that they are received and 
understood, accepted and applied. 
● These two perspectives suggest certain prerequisites for development for 
communication 

(i) human and localized approach to communication rather than abstract and centralized 

(ii) credibility and role of communication links 

(iii) access to communication 

PROCESS 
1. Establishing aims and objectives : Defining the purpose and common objectives 
2. Define Target audience: defining and selecting target audience is necessary to 
identify the com channel to be used and the startegies to be made according to 
needs of the target audience 

 
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3. Design Key –Messages Design Messages as per requirement of the channel. 
Identify language in which messages has to be transcribed 
4. Choose Communication Channels: Target audience, objective, types of messages 
will determine comm channel. Prioritize key channels: Oral or Written. 
5. Work Out Two –Way communication Process : It helps in gathering ideas, 
suggestions and feedback so that programmes could be fixed to fix people's 
needs. 
6. Fix Time Frame: Time frame should be worked out for all the stages of 
programme. 
7. Plan Budget : Plan a budget according to the need and the target audience Need 
to be more strategic about investment in expensive communication methods 
such as mass media. Many methods are expensive such as meetings, posters , 
leaflets and charts etc. 
8. Implementation : After this the development plan has to executed and the 
message has to be shared. 
9. Monitoring the Feedback: Monitoring of IEC materials refers to the review and 
supervision of distribution and usage activities. Findings are used to improve 
distribution systems, the use of materials, and the future design of 
materials.Monitoring is a tool to identify and correct problems early enough 
to make changes and maximize the impact of development communication. 

 
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TOPIC 2: 

A. GDP/GNP  

GDP 
● The gross domestic product (GDP) is one the primary indicators used to gauge the 
health of a country's economy. 
● GDP measures all of the sales of final goods and services domestically — within a 
country's borders — plus exports and minus imports. 
● The calculation can be done in one of the two ways: 
● Either by adding up what everyone earned in a year (income approach), or by adding up 
what everyone spent (expenditure method). The expenditure method is the more 
common approach and is calculated by adding total consumption, investment, 
government spending and net exports. 

GNP  
● Gross national Product is a measurement of a country’s income. It includes all the 
income earned by a country's residents and businesses, including any income earned 
abroad. Income is defined as all employee compensation plus investment profits. It 
includes earnings from foreign sources. 
● It does not count income earned by foreigners located in the country. 
● It also does not include the shadow or black economy. 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GDP AND GNI 

● GNI measures all income of a country's residents and businesses, regardless of where 
it's produced. 

● Gross Domestic Product, on the other hand, measures the income of anyone within a 
country's boundaries. It doesn't matter who produces it. It includes anything earned by 
foreigners, including foreign businesses, while they are in the country. GDP measures 
production while GNP measures income. 

● GDP is calculated via three methods namely: Output Method, Income Method, and 
Expenditure Method. GNP is calculated via GDP plus net income earned by residents 
from abroad - net income earned by foreign residents in the country. 

 
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● GDP is used to measure the strength of a country’s domestic economy while GNP is 
used to measure how the national of a country are contributing economically. 

● GDP per capita is used to check the per capita income of an individual in the country. 

● For example, China’s GDP is $300 Billion greater than its GNP due to the large number of 
foreign companies operating within its borders. Similarly, the US’ GNP is $250 million 
greater than its GDP due to the amount of american owned production that occurs 
beyond its borders. 

● Similarly, the shoes made in a Nike plant in Korea will be counted in U.S. GNP, but not 
GDP. That's because the profits from those shoes will boost Nike's earnings and stock 
prices, contributing to higher national income. It doesn't stimulate economic growth in 
the United States because those manufacturing jobs were outsourced. It's Korean 
workers who will boost their country's economy and GDP by buying local goods and 
services. 

B. Human Development Index 

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key 
dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a 
decent standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the 
three dimensions. 

The Human Development Index (HDI) was first published in 1990, under the guidance of 
Mahbub ul Haq, a former finance minister of Pakistan, with technical assistance from the Nobel 
laureate economist Amartya Sen. The HDI appears in the Statistical Annex of the United 
Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) annual flagship publication, the Human 
Development Report. 

The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate 
criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can 
also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level 
of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts 
can stimulate debate about government policy priorities. 

 
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Indicators 
1. Longevity:​ It is measured by life expectancy at birth. It is defined as the average number 
of years that a newborn could expect to live if he or she were able to pass through life 
subject to the age- specific mortality rates of a given period. 
2. Education or Knowledge:​ It is measured by the weighted average of adult literacy and 
mean years of schooling. For this 2/3rd weight is given to adult literacy and 1/3rd weight 
is given to the mean years of schooling. 
3. Standard of Living: ​It is measured by GNI per capita income of a country at purchasing 
power parity (PPP). 

● The indicators of the three dimensions are calibrated and combined to generate an HDI 
score between zero and one. Countries are grouped into four human development categories 
or quartiles: very high, high, medium and low. 
● India’s HDI value for 2017 is 0.640, which put the country in the medium human development 
category. Between 1990 and 2017, India’s HDI value increased from 0.427 to 0.640, an 
increase of nearly 50 percent – and an indicator of the country’s remarkable achievement in 
lifting millions of people out of poverty. 
● The 2010 Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted Human 
Development Index (IHDI). While the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that "the IHDI is the 
actual level of human development (accounting for inequality)", and "the HDI can be viewed 
as an index of 'potential' human development (or the maximum IHDI that could be achieved if 
there were no inequality)".  

C. HAPPINESS INDEX.  
The World Happiness Report is an annual publication of the United Nations Sustainable 
Development Solutions Network which contains rankings of national happiness and analysis of 
the data from various perspectives. 

The first World Happiness Report was released on April 1, 2012 

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The World 
Happiness Report 2018, ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the 
happiness of their immigrants. 

The main focus of this year’s report, in addition to its usual ranking of the levels and changes in 
happiness around the world, is on migration within and between countries. 

 
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This report is based on international surveys in which thousands of respondents were asked to 
imagine a ladder with steps numbered 0 to 10 and say where they felt they stood. 

The report cites six significant factors which contribute to happiness: 

1. Levels of GDP 
2. Healthy life expectancy,  
3. Social support 
4. Freedom,  
5. Corruption 
6. Generosity  

Finland is top of the world for happiness, according to the World Happiness Report 2018, 
closely followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands. 

Nordic countries take four out of the five top spots, and are well known to be stable, safe and 
socially progressive. There is very little corruption, and the police and politicians are trusted. 

John Helliwell, a co-editor of the World Happiness Report noted “The most striking finding of 
the report is the remarkable consistency between the happiness of immigrants and the locally 
born,” Helliwell said. “Those who move to happier countries gain, while those who move to less 
happy countries lose.” 

From being on 122nd rank in 2017 to 133rd rank in 2018, India has slipped 11 places on the 
'Word Happiness Index'. 

Gross National Happiness 

Gross National Happiness is a term coined by His Majesty the Fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme 
Singye Wangchuck in the 1970s. The concept implies that sustainable development should 
take a holistic approach towards notions of progress and give equal importance to 
non-economic aspects of wellbeing. The Gross National Happiness Index is a single number 
index developed from 33 indicators categorized under nine domains.  

The concept of GNH has often been explained by its four pillars:  

1. good governance,  
2. sustainable socio-economic development, 
3. cultural preservation,  
4. environmental conservation.  

 
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Lately, the four pillars have been further classified into nine domains in order to create 
widespread understanding of GNH and to reflect the holistic range of GNH values. 

The nine domains are:  

1. Psychological well being 

2. Health 
3. Education 
4. Time use 
5. Cultural diversity and resilience  
6. Good governance 
7. Community vitality 
8. Ecological diversity and resilience  
9. Living standards 

D. HUMAN RIGHTS AS AN INDICATOR 

● A human right is “a universal moral right, something which all men everywhere, at all 
times ought to have, something of which no one may be deprived without a grave affront 
to justice, something which is owing to every human being simply because he is human.” 
● Efforts are made all over the world to take adequate measures for the promotion and 
protection of human rights.  
● It is only through communication that people become aware and educated about their 
rights, which they can exercise or have been granted to them. 

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 
10th December 1948, according to which all men and women are entitled to civil, political, 
economic, social, cultural rights and freedom for the people of the world.  

Every Development program should incorporate an aspect on human rights. Development 

communicators must shoulder the responsibility of educating various target groups on how to 
respect and exercise human rights. This requires democratization of communication, which 

 
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means an access to all existing media to the masses for sharing information and the facts 
related to human rights without any discrimination. 

Without freedom, other human rights cannot be exercised effectively either within National 
borders or within the world community. The expansion of human rights, therefore, depends 
largely on the success of expanding the flow of information everywhere. 

The real challenge is to prepare a development communication strategy to highlight human 

rights. So far media have not been successful in projecting an impressive and popular image of 
human rights issue, which constitutes an integral part of life and activity of the average citizen. 

The Human Right principles to guide development programming identified in this agreement 
are:   

1. Universality and inalienability 

2. Indivisibility 
3. Interdependence and interrelatedness 
4. Equality and non-discrimination 
5. Inclusion and participation 
6. Accountability 

TOPIC 3: Approaches to Development Communication: 

Diffusion of Innovation; Magic Multiplier; Empathy:  

Diffusion of Innovation 
Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory, developed by E.M. Rogers in 1962, is one of the oldest 
social science theories. It originated in communication to explain how, over time, an idea or 
product gains momentum and diffuses (or spreads) through a specific population or social 
system. The end result of this diffusion is that people, as part of a social system, adopt a new 
idea, behaviour, or product. 

Adoption of a new idea, behaviour, or product (i.e., "innovation") does not happen 
simultaneously in a social system; rather it is a process whereby some people are more apt to 
adopt the innovation than others. Researchers have found that people who adopt an 
innovation early have different characteristics than people who adopt an innovation later. 

 
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When promoting an innovation, there are different strategies used to appeal to the different 
adopter categories. 

1. Innovators​ - These are the most eager members of the society to try new ideas and 
adopt new practices. They are venturesome and interested in new ideas. These people 
are very willing to take risks, and are often the first to develop new ideas. Usually they 
belong to the cosmopolite category. 
2. Early Adopters -​ These are people who represent opinion leaders. They enjoy leadership 
roles, and embrace change opportunities. They had a higher social status, more 
favourable financial status, engaged in more specialized operations and were equipped 
with greater mental abilities. They used the data provided by the innovators in 
implementation and confirmation of the innovation to make their own adoption 
decision.They are already aware of the need to change and so are very comfortable 
adopting new ideas. Strategies to appeal to this population include how-to manuals and 
information sheets on implementation. They do not need information to convince them 
to change. 
3. Early Majority​ - These people are rarely leaders, but they do adopt new ideas before the 
average person. Strategies to appeal to this population include success stories and 
evidence of the innovation's effectiveness.They become the reference groups for the 
subsequent late adopters 
4. Late Majority​ - These people are sceptical of change, and will only adopt an innovation 
after it has been tried by the majority. Much of the social system does not have the 
inclination or capability to acquire information of the most recent innovations. So they 
trust the opinion leaders, since adoption of opinion leader is a good indicator that 
innovation is going to be adopted by many also and other members will be encouraged 
to adopt. 
5. Laggards​ - These people are bound by tradition and very conservative. They are very 
sceptical of change and are the hardest group to bring on board. The laggards are very 
slow in adoption. If they are traditional, they are suspicious of innovations and often 
interact with others who also have traditional values. If they are isolates, their lack of 
social interaction decreases their awareness of an innovation’s demonstrated benefits. It 
takes much longer than average for laggards to adopt innovations. 

Stages 
1. Awareness stage​ – there is broad exposure of the innovation, but the individual does not 
have sufficient information. He is yet to get motivated either to seek further information 
or to act upon it or know how it functions (Knowledge). 

 
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2. Interest stage​ – individual shows interest in the new idea, makes an effort to seek 
additional information. However, the person is still undecided about its application. 
Person forms a favourable/unfavourable attitude towards innovation (Persuasion). 
3. Evaluation stage​ – The individual mentally applies the innovation to one’s own situation, 
and then decides whether to try it or not. Person engages in activities that lead to a 
choice to accept / reject the innovation (Decision). 
4. Trial stage​ – individual uses the innovations on a pilot stage (limited scale) to decide 
about its utility and relevance to one’s own situation. Observation is that people will not 
adopt an innovation without trying (Implementation). 
5. Adoption stage​ – It is the process through which the individual arrives at the decision to 
adopt or reject the innovation from the time they first became aware of it. Individual 
decides to continue the use of innovation. Adoption implies sustained or continuous use 
(Confirmation). 

Adoption stage​ – It is the p  

Diffusion of innovation research established the importance of communication, new ideas and 
their practice is a crucial component of the modernization process. People change attitudes of 
those whom they talk to, work with, or interact with. People will adopt an innovation if they 
believe that it enhances their utility; it determines the extent of change in their normal 
functioning increases compatibility with habits and values, and has cost-benefit analysis. 

Magic Multiplier 
● Mass Media is called the magic multiplier as it can multiply the messages and reach a 
number of people very fast and at one go. Its output does have great potential and 
modernizing effect. 
● Mass media are important in spreading awareness of new possibilities and practices, 
but at the stage where decisions are being made about whether to adopt or not to adopt; 
personal communication is far more likely to be influential. 
● Wilbur Schramm (1964), in his book ‘Mass Media and National Development’ which was 
produced for UNESCO became almost a blueprint (programme of action) for 
development communication. Schramm stated that content is the key to their use in 
development. 

Arguments for Magic Multiplier  

● For social change of great magnitude, people must be informed, educated, motivated 
and persuaded. Information must flow, not only to them but also from them, so that their 

 
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needs can be known and they might participate in the acts and decisions of 
nation-building. 
● As the required amount of information and learning is vast so the targeted population. 
Work should be organised and skills should be learnt at all levels of society for better 
utilization of the resources of society. 
● The available channels of communication like interpersonal, group-communication, 
traditional media are incapable to undertake this task, as this will require a lot of time 
and resources. For a developing country, it’s difficult to gather a large pool of resources 
and wait for such a long time. Mass media with its magical reach can do this job in less 
time and resources. 

Analysis 
● The audit found that the mass media succeeded in reaching a vast majority of 
population in less time and resources 
● Mass media as a magic multiplier did a commendable job in spreading awareness but it 
could not give expected results in persuading and educating the targeted population. 
● It was found that persuasion, motivation and education for/on something is best 
achieved by close interactions which is possible in inter-personal, 
group-communications 

TOPIC 4: Communication and Social Change  

 

A.GANDHIAN PERSPECTIVE ; PANCHAYATI RAJ 

LOCALISED APPROACH 

This approach advocates that information transmitted through media must be locally and 
functionally relevant to the audience is called localised approach. The development 
programmes must be local to meet the local needs which vary widely in different regions and 
sub-regions in a large country like India due to the diversity of climate, cultures and languages. 

❖ Localised approach would enable communicators to design messages which will be 
relevant in terms of utility, timeliness, applicability, specificity, etc. 
❖ The approach would tailor message for local conditions 
❖ The approach can overcome infrastructural difficulties 

 
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❖ Such an approach will allow greater involvement and participation of the audience in the 
communication process 
❖ As the needs of people vary widely in different regions and sub-regions 
❖ In a large developing country like India, there is diversity of cultures and languages 

● Mahatma Gandhi favoured the development of panchayats, and he had made panchayats a 
part of his political programme since the Non-Cooperation Movement.The term for this 
vision was “GRAM SWARAJ” which means village self governance. 
● But not all sections of the political leadership were equally enthusiastic about it Jawaharlal 
Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar, for their own reasons, were not too keen about it. In fact the Draft 
Constitution did not even mention it. 
● After considerable procedural wrangles and more in deference to the wishes of Gandhiji, it 
was finally incorporated in the Constitution and that too as a thing to be merely desired. 
● The Constitution did not contain any provision for the exact form that local self-government 
should take. It only stated as one of the Directive Principles; that states should take steps to 
organise village panchayats and endow them with functions as units of self-government 
(Article 40). 
● Not unexpectedly, nothing had been done for establishing the Panchayati Raj in 1950s. 
Central Government had directed its efforts for local development on the Community 
Development Programme (CDP) 
● High hopes were pinned on CDP, but when it seemed that it was not making any headway. 
Government appointed Balwant Rai Mehta Committee to make recommendation for its 
improvement. 
● The Committee diagnosed the lack of democratic local bodies with real powers as the major 
cause of the failure of CDP. The remedy suggested was the setting up of Panchayati Raj by 
instituting three levels of representative bodies. 
● The National Development Council accepted these recommendations in 1959. Rajasthan 
was the first state to set up Panchayati Raj in Oct 1959, followed by Andhra Pradesh and 
Tamil Nadu in the same year. Later the other States followed suit. 

In the history of Panchayati Raj in India, on April 24, 1993, the constitutional Act (73rd 
amendment) 1992,came into force to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj 
Institutions. 

The amendments were extended to Panchayats in the tribal areas of 8 states, Andhra Pradesh, 
Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan beginning on 
December 24, 1996. 

 
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Objectives of Panchayati Raj 

i) Increasing agricultural production 

(ii) Development of rural industry 

(iii) Fostering co-operative institutions 

(iv) Full utilisation of local manpower and other resources and the resources, physical and 
financial, available to Panchayati Raj institutions 

(v) Assisting the economically weaker sections of the village community  

(vi) Progressive dispersal of authority and initiative, with special emphasis on the role of 
voluntary organisations; and,  

(vii) encouraging the spirit of self-help within the community 

Organization:  
It is a three-tier system in each state: 

(a) The Zila Parishad at the district level. 

(b) Panchayat Samitis at the block level. 

(c) Gram Panchayats at the village level. 

The members of the Panchayats are directly elected by the people, whereas the members of 
Panchayat Samitis will be elected by the Panchayats. 

The members of Zila Parishad would consist of the Presidents of the Panchayat Samitis bodies 
of MLAs, and MPs elected from that district. The Panchayat Samitis would undertake to look 
after schemes, like (a) elementary education, (b) village roads, (r) public health. 

Nyaya Panchayats or village courts which provide a speedy and inexpensive system of justice 
to the villagers are functioning in some of the states. Panchayati Raj now covers all the states 
except Meghalaya and Nagaland. 

The panchayat, the cooperative and the school are the basic institutions at the village level for 
carrying out programmes of rural development. The elected panchayat is responsible for many 
development programmes within its territorial jurisdiction.  

 
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B. CASE STUDY: MGNREGA 

 

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is a social security scheme that 
attempts to provide employment and livelihood to rural labourers in the country.  

The Act covered 200 districts in its first phase, implemented on February 2, 2006, and was 
extended to 130 additional districts in 2007- 2008. All the remaining rural areas have been 
notified with effect from April 1, 2008 

The scheme was designed to provide any adult who registers for rural employment a minimum 
job guarantee of 100 days each financial year. This includes non-skilled work, making it 
one-of-its-kind across the world. It was later renamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural 
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The MGNREGA is an entitlement to work that every 
adult citizen holds. In case such employment is not provided within 15 days of registration, the 
applicant becomes eligible for an unemployment allowance. 

The Ministry is also continually reviewing the implementation of MGNREGA in LWE districts. 

Salient Features of the Act 

 

1. Right based Framework:​ For adult members of a rural household willing to do unskilled 
manual work 
2. Time bound Guarantee:​ 15 days for provision of employment, else unemployment 
allowance 
3. Up to 100 days in a financial year per household, depending on the actual demand 
4. Labour Intensive Works:​ 60:40 wage and material ratio for permissible works; no 
contractors/machinery 
5. Decentralized Planning :  
● Gram Sabhas to recommend works 
● At least 50% of works by Gram Panchayats for execution 
● Principal role of PRIs in planning, monitoring and implementation 
6. Work site facilities :​ Crèche, drinking water, first aid and shade provided at worksites 
7. Women empowerment:​ At least one-third of beneficiaries should be women 

 
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8. Transparency & Accountability:​ Proactive disclosure through Social Audits, Grievance 
Redressal Mechanism 
9. Implementation:​ Under Sec 3, States are responsible for providing work in accordance 
with the Scheme. Under Sec 4, every state government is required to make a scheme for 
providing not less than 100 days of guaranteed employment in a financial year, to those 
who demand work 
10. ​Funding:​ Central Government -100% of wages for unskilled manual work, 75% of 
material cost of the schemes including payment of wages to skilled and semi skilled 
workers. State Government- 25% of material including payment of wages to skilled and 
semi skilled workers cost. 100% of unemployment allowance by state government. 

The performance and impact of MGNREGA 

1. Increase in household income:​ In LWE areas of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and 
Andhra Pradesh, income of rural labour households has gone up as a result of this 
programme 
2. Increase in agricultural wages:​ In LWE areas of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and 
Andhra Pradesh, wages in various agricultural operations have gone up as a result of 
implementation of MGNREGA. This has lead to an increase in fertilizer use, and quality 
seeds 
3. Reduction in distress migration: I​ n village Besrapal, located in Bastar District of 
Chattisgarh, village Nawagarh, located in Gumla District and village Mahel, located in Khunti 
District of Jharkhand, the incidence of out-migration from the village to distant places for 
manual works had come down as a result of MGNREGA works 

SITE  
India’s biggest experience in using mass media for the purpose of development was the SITE 
SITE stands for Satellite Instructional Television Experiment was an experimental satellite 
communication project launched in India in 1975. 

The main objective of the SITE experiment was to educate the rural masses of India on 
various issues via satellite broadcasting, and also to help India gain technical experience in 
the field of satellite communications.  

The Department of Atomic Energy and India Space Research Organization started this 
experiment with the satellite received free of cost for one full year from the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States.   

 
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The experiment ran for one year from 1 August 1975 to 31 July 1976, covering more than 2400 
villages in 20 districts of six Indian states and territories (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, 
Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan). This one year project was primarily undertaken to 
telecast special development programmes produced by All India Radio and broadcast by 
NASA's ATS-6 satellite stationed above India for the duration of the project.  

The project was supported by various international agencies such as the UNDP, 
UNESCO,UNICEF and ITU. The experiment was successful, as it played a major role in helping 
develop India's own satellite program, INSAT. The project showed that India could use 
advanced technology to fulfill the socio-economic needs of the country. SITE was followed by 
similar experiments in various countries, which showed the important role satellite TV could 
play in providing education. 

Its objectives were to:  

● Improve the rural primary education,  

● Provide training to the teachers,  
● Improve agriculture health and hygiene and nutritional practice and   
● Contribute to family planning and national integration  

As one of the aims of the experiment was to study the potential of TV as a medium of 
development, the villages were chosen specifically for their backwardness. According to the 
1971 census of India, the states having the most number of backward districts in the country 
were Orissa, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal 
and Karnataka. Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were eventually left out, as they were slated to 
get terrestrial television by the time SITE would end. 

Two types of programmes were prepared for broadcasting: educational television (ETV) and 
instructional television (ITV). ETV programmes were meant for school children and focussed 
on interesting and creative educational programmes. The ITV programmes were meant for 
adult audiences, mainly to those who were illiterate. The programmes covered health, hygiene, 
family planning, nutrition, improved practices in agriculture and events of national importance. 

IMPACT 

Before SITE, the focus was on the use of terrestrial transmission for television signals. But SITE 
showed that India could make use of advanced technology to fulfill the socio-economic needs 

 
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of the country. This led to an increased focus on satellite broadcasting in India. ISRO began 
preparations for a country-wide satellite system. After conducting several technical 
experiments, the Indian National Satellite System was launched by ISRO in 1982. The Indian 
space program remained committed to the goal of using satellites for educational purposes. In 
September 2004, India launched EDUSAT, which was the first satellite in the world built 
exclusively to serve the educational sector. EDUSAT is used to meet the demand for an 
interactive satellite-based distance education system for India. 

After the completion of the project evaluation studies the results showed that exposure to 
developmental messages though the television had contributed for the widening of 
horizons of the villagers. Earth stations at Delhi & Ahmedabad telecasted the programs. They 
were produced at AIR production Centre, upgraded at Doordarshan (Delhi), with the help 
of Central & State govt representatives, experts & social workers.  

KHEDA 
Kheda is a small district in central Gujarat. A field laboratory in development and local 
communication was conducted between 1975 and 1990 in Kheda district of Gujarat. This was 
started as a part of Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), and over the years 
evolved into a model rural oriented local TV station. It demonstrated how participatory, and 
people oriented can a local TV system become.  

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared these experiences with the operational 
agency through a series of training programmes. These efforts were followed by the 
application of one way video two way audio teleconferencing for Education and 
Development Training. Over 600 community TV sets have been installed in 443 villages of 
Kheda. They were kept in the buildings of the Milk Producers cooperative Society or the 
Panchayat Ghar.  

This network has found very effective application in training of Panchayati Raj (Village 
Local Self-government) elected representatives, Anganwadi (crèche) workers, Primary 
School Teachers, Daais (mid-wives), etc.   

The Network is currently operational as the Training and Development Communication 

Channel (TDCC) and is spreading out to several states and distance education agencies like 
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), All India Management Association (AIMA), 
Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) like Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and 
Ahmedabad Women's Action Group (AWAG). 

 
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WATER HARVESTING MANAGEMENT  

NRHM 
 

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 12th 
April 2005, to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population, 
especially the vulnerable groups. The Union Cabinet vide its decision dated 1st May 2013, has 
approved the launch of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a Sub-mission of an 
over-arching National Health Mission (NHM), with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being 
the other Sub-mission of National Health Mission. 

NRHM seeks to provide equitable, affordable and quality health care to the rural population, 
especially the vulnerable groups. Under the NRHM, the Empowered Action Group (EAG) States 
as well as North Eastern States, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have been given 
special focus.  

The thrust of the mission is on establishing a fully functional, community owned, decentralized 
health delivery system with inter-sectoral convergence at all levels, to ensure simultaneous 
action on a wide range of determinants of health such as water, sanitation, education, nutrition, 
social and gender equality. Institutional integration within the fragmented health sector was 
expected to provide a focus on outcomes, measured against Indian Public Health Standards for 
all health facilities. 

Concept of NRHM  

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is a National effort at ensuring effective healthcare 
through a range of interventions at individual, household, community, and most critically at the 
health system levels. Despite considerable gains in health status over the past few decades in 
terms of increased life expectancy, reductions in mortality and morbidity serious challenges 
still remain. These challenges vary significantly from state to state and even within states. 

There has been a progressive decline in budgetary allocation for public health in the country 
from 1.3% of GDP in 1990 to 0.9% in 1999. Rising inequities are another area of concern. 
Studies demonstrate that curative services favour the rich over the poor. Only one tenth of the 
population is covered by any form of health insurance thereby exposing the large majority to 
the risk of indebtedness in the event of a major illness in the family. Operational integration in 
policy and programme between various vertical programmes within the health sector, and 
between health and other related sectors such as drinking water, sanitation, and nutrition has 

 
 20 
 
been limited, resulting in a lack of holistic approaches to health. A number of States particularly 
in North, East and North Eastern parts of the country have stagnant health indicators and 
continue to grapple with significant morbidity and mortality. The causes for this basically lie in 
socio-economic factors, under performing health systems and weak institutional framework. 

The National Common Minimum Programmer spells out the commitment of the Government to 
enhance Budgetary Outlays for Public Health and to improve the capacity of the health system 
to absorb the increased outlay so as to bring all round improvement in public health services. 
This Mission seeks to provide effective health care to the rural population, especially the 
disadvantaged groups including women and children, by improving access, enabling 
community ownership and demand for services, strengthening public health systems for 
efficient service delivery, enhancing equity and accountability and promoting decentralization. 

The goals of NRHM are outlined below:  

1. Reduction in Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Ratio by at least 50% from 
existing levels in next seven years  
2. Universalize access to public health services for Women’s health, Child health, water, 
hygiene, sanitation and nutrition  
3. Prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, including 
locally endemic diseases  
4. Access to integrated comprehensive primary healthcare  
5. Ensuring population stabilization, gender and demographic balance.  
6. Revitalize local health traditions and mainstream AYUSH  
7. Promotion of healthy lifestyles  

C. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 

 

In the year 2015, leaders from 193 countries of the world came together to face the future and 
what they saw was daunting. Famines. Drought. Wars. Plagues. Poverty. Not just in some 
faraway place, but in their own cities and towns and villages.  

They knew things didn’t have to be this way. They knew we had enough food to feed the world, 
but that it wasn’t getting shared. They knew there were medicines for HIV and other diseases, 
but they cost a lot. They knew that earthquakes and floods were inevitable, but that the high 
death tolls were not. They also knew that billions of people worldwide shared their hope for a 
better future.  

 
 21 
 

So leaders from these countries created a plan called the Sustainable Development Goals 
(SDGs). This set of 17 goals imagines a future just 15 years off that would be rid of poverty and 
hunger, and safe from the worst effects of climate change 

SDGs 

1) NO POVERTY   
END EXTREME POVERTY IN ALL FORMS BY 2030. 

In 2000, the world committed to halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by the 
year 2015 and we met this goal. However, More than 800 million people around the world still 
live on less than $1.25 a day. that’s about the equivalent of the entire population of Europe 
living in extreme poverty. 

2) ZERO HUNGER 
END HUNGER, ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY AND IMPROVED NUTRITION AND PROMOTE 
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 

In the past 20 years, hunger has dropped by almost half. Many countries that used to suffer 
from famine and hunger can now meet the nutritional needs of their most vulnerable people. 
The objective is to end hunger and malnutrition once and for all. That means doing things such 
as promoting sustainable agriculture and supporting small farmers. It’s a tall order and needs 
to be done for the sake of the nearly 1 out of every 9 people on earth who go to bed hungry 
every night.  

3) GOOD HEALTH AND WELL BEING 

ENSURE HEALTHY LIVES AND PROMOTE WELL-BEING FOR ALL AT ALL AGES. 

This is a Goal to make sure everyone has health coverage and access to safe and effective 
medicines and vaccines. In the 25 years before the SDGs, the world has made big 
strides—preventable child deaths dropped by more than half, and maternal mortality went down 
by almost as much. And yet some other numbers remain tragically high, like the fact that 6 
million children die every year before their fifth birthday, or that AIDS is the leading cause of 
death for adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.  

 
 22 
 

4) QUALITY EDUCATION 
ENSURE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION AND PROMOTE LIFELONG 
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL 

Poverty, armed conflict and other emergencies keep many, many kids around the world out of 
school. Since 2000, there has been enormous progress on the goal to provide primary 
education to all children worldwide: the total enrolment rate in developing regions has reached 
91%. By measures in any school, that’s a good grade. Now, let’s get an even better grade for all 
kids, and achieve the goal of universal primary and secondary education, affordable vocational 
training, access to higher education and more.  

5) GENDER EQUALITY 
ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS  

In just about every way, women and girls lag behind. There are still gross inequalities in work 
and wages, lots of unpaid “women’s work” such as child care and domestic work, and 
discrimination in public decision-making. But there are grounds for hope. More girls are in 
school now compared to in 2000. Most regions have reached gender parity in primary 
education. The percentage of women getting paid for their work is on the rise. The Sustainable 
Development Goals aim to build on these achievements to ensure that there is an end to 
discrimination against women and girls everywhere. 

6) CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION 

ENSURE AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION FOR 
ALL 

Everyone on earth should have access to safe and affordable drinking water. That’s the goal for 
2030. Water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of people around the world, and that number 
is projected to go even higher as a result of climate change. If we continue the path we’re on, by 
2050 at least one in four people are likely to be affected by recurring water shortages. But we 
can take a new path—more international cooperation, protecting wetlands and rivers, sharing 
water-treatment technologies—that leads to accomplishing this Goal.  

7) AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY 

ENSURE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND MODERN ENERGY FOR ALL  

 
 23 
 

Between 1990 and 2010, the number of people with access to electricity increased by 1.7 
billion. And yet as the world’s population continues to rise, still more people will need cheap 
energy to light their homes and streets, use phones and computers, and do their everyday 
business. How we get that energy is at issue; fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions are 
making drastic changes in the climate, leading to big problems on every continent. Instead, we 
can become more energy-efficient and invest in clean energy sources such as solar and wind. 
That way we’ll meet electricity needs and protect the environment.  

8) DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH 

PROMOTE SUSTAINED, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH, FULL AND 
PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND DECENT WORK FOR ALL  

An important part of economic growth is that people have jobs that pay enough to support 
themselves and their families. The good news is that the middle class is growing 
worldwide—almost tripling in size in developing countries in the last 25 years, to more than a 
third of the population. But today, job growth is not keeping pace with the growing labour force. 
Things don’t have to be that way. We can promote policies that encourage entrepreneurship 
and job creation. We can eradicate forced labour, slavery and human trafficking. And in the end 
we can achieve the goal of decent work for all women and men by 2030. 

9) INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

BUILD RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE, PROMOTE INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE 
INDUSTRIALIZATION AND FOSTER INNOVATION  

Technological progress helps us address big global challenges such as creating jobs and 
becoming more energy efficient. For example, the world is becoming ever more interconnected 
and prosperous thanks to the internet. The more connected we are, the more we can all benefit 
from the wisdom and contributions of people everywhere on earth. And yet four billion people 
have no way of getting online, the vast majority of them in developing countries. The more we 
invest in innovation and infrastructure, the better off we’ll all be. Bridging the digital divide, 
promoting sustainable industries, and investing in scientific research and innovation are all 
important ways to facilitate sustainable development. 

10) REDUCED INEQUALITIES 

REDUCE INEQUALITY WITHIN AND AMONG COUNTRIES  

 
 24 
 

It’s an old story: the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The divide has never been starker. 
We can and must adopt policies that create opportunity for everyone, regardless of who they 
are or where they come from. Income inequality is a global problem that requires global 
solutions. That means improving the regulation of financial markets and institutions, sending 
development aid where it is most needed and helping people migrate safely so they can pursue 
opportunities. Together, we can now change the direction of the old story of inequality.  

11) SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES 

MAKE CITIES AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS INCLUSIVE, SAFE, RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE  

More than half the world’s population now lives in cities, and that figure will go to about 
two-thirds of humanity by the year 2050. A lot of people love cities; they’re centers of culture 
and business and life. The thing is, they’re also often centers of extreme poverty. To make cities 
sustainable for all, we can create good, affordable public housing. We can upgrade slum 
settlements. We can invest in public transport, create green spaces, and get a broader range of 
people involved in urban planning decisions. That way, we can keep the things we love about 
cities, and change the things we don’t. 

12) RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION 

ENSURE SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION PATTERNS  

we can have a world where everybody gets what they need to survive and thrive. And we can 
consume in a way that preserves our natural resources so that our children can enjoy them, and 
their children and their children after that. The hard part is how to achieve that goal. We can 
manage our natural resources more efficiently and dispose of toxic waste better. Cut per capita 
food waste in half globally. Get businesses and consumers to reduce and recycle waste.  

13) CLIMATE ACTION  

TAKE URGENT ACTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS  

Every country in the world is seeing the drastic effects of climate change, some more than 
others. On average, the annual losses just from earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones and 
flooding count in the hundreds of billions of dollars. We can reduce the loss of life and property 
by helping more vulnerable regions—such as land-locked countries and island states—become 
more resilient. It is still possible, with the political will and technological measures, to limit the 
increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels— and 

 
 25 
 
thus avoid the worst effects of climate change. The Sustainable Development Goals lay out a 
way for countries to work together to meet this urgent challenge.  

14) LIFE BELOW WATER  

CONSERVE AND SUSTAINABLY USE THE OCEANS, SEAS AND MARINE RESOURCES FOR 
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT  

The oceans make human life possible. For one thing, more than 3 billion people depend on 
marine and coastal diversity for their livelihoods. But today we are seeing nearly a third of the 
world’s fish stocks overexploited. Oceans absorb about 30 percent of the carbon dioxide that 
humans produce; but we’re producing more carbon dioxide than ever before and that makes the 
oceans more acidic—26% more, since the start of the industrial revolution. Our trash doesn’t 
help either—13,000 pieces of plastic litter on every square kilometer of ocean. The Sustainable 
Development Goals indicate targets for managing and protecting life below water.  

15) LIFE ON LAND 

PROTECT, RESTORE AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE USE OF TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS, 
SUSTAINABLY MANAGE FORESTS, COMBAT DESERTIFICATION, AND HALT AND REVERSE 
LAND DEGRADATION AND HALT BIODIVERSITY LOSS  

Humans and other animals rely on other forms of life on land for food, clean air, clean water, 
and as a means of combating climate change. Plant life makes up 80% of the human diet. 
Forests, which cover 30% of the Earth’s surface, help keep the air and water clean and the 
Earth’s climate in balance. That’s not to mention they’re home to millions of animal species. But 
the land and life on it are in trouble. Arable land is disappearing 30 to 35 times faster than it has 
historically. Deserts are spreading. Animal breeds are going extinct. We can turn these trends 
around. Fortunately, the Sustainable Development Goals aim to conserve and restore the use of 
terrestrial ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, drylands and mountains by 2030.  

16) PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS  

PROMOTE PEACEFUL AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 
PROVIDE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ALL AND BUILD EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTABLE AND 
INCLUSIVE INSTITUTIONS AT ALL LEVELS  

Some parts of the world enjoy relative peace and justice, and may come to take it for granted. 
Other parts seem to be plagued by armed conflict, crime, torture and exploitation, all of which 
hinders their development. The goal of peace and justice is one for all countries to strive 

 
 26 
 
towards. The Sustainable Development Goals aim to reduce all forms of violence and propose 
that governments and communities find lasting solutions to conflict and insecurity. That means 
strengthening the rule of law, reducing the flow of illicit arms, and bringing developing countries 
more into the center of institutions of global governance. 

17) PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS 

STRENGTHEN THE MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION AND REVITALIZE THE GLOBAL 
PARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 

The world is more interconnected today than ever before, thanks to the internet, travel and 
global institutions. There’s a growing consensus about the need to work together to stop 
climate change. And the Sustainable Development Goals are no small matter either. 193 
countries agreed on these goals. Pretty incredible, isn’t it? 193 countries agreeing on anything? 
The final goal lays out a way for nations to work together to achieve all the other Goals.  

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
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UNIT 2  

TOPIC 1: LINEAR MODEL  

Rostow's model  
At the end of the Second World War (1939-45) there was a renewal of interest in the subject of 
development economics and the stages of growth once again preoccupied many scholars. As a 
non-communist manifesto, W. W. Rostow’s stages of economic growth (1960, 1971) is a foray 
into positioning the sweep of modern economic history under capitalism into neat and hopeful 
epochs. 

He argues that within a society sequential economic steps of modernization can be identified. 
These steps are linear and towards an evolutionary higher development. 

Rostow's model is a part of the Liberal School of Economics, laying emphasis on the efficacy of 
modern concepts of free trade and the ideas of Adam Smith 

Rostow's model summarises economic growth of countries into five different stages: 

1. Traditional society  
A traditional society is one of the simplest and primitive forms of social organisation. it is a 
society based on primi​tive technology and primitive attitude towards the physical World. 

(a) Per Capita:​ there is limit to attainable output per head. This limit arises due to the absence 
of access to modern science and technology. there is a low ceiling per capita output. 

(b) Employment in Agriculture:​ A high proportion of workforce (75% or more) are devoted in the 
production of agricultural goods. High proportion of resources are also devoted in the 
agricultural section. 

(c) Social Mobility:​ A hierarchical, hereditary, status-oriented social structure in which there is 
little possibility for vertical mobility. 

(​d) Political Power:​ The centre of gravity of political power was localistic, region-bound and 
primarily based on land ownership. 

The value system that prevails in such a society is what Rostow calls a long-run fatalism. 
People of these societies think that not much economic progress is possible for them and for 
their future generations. 

 
 28 
 

2. Preconditions for take off  

★ The covers a long period of a century or more during which the preconditions for take-off are 
established. These conditions mainly comprise fundamental changes in the social, political and 
economic fields; for example: 

(a) A change in society’s attitudes towards science, risk-taking and profit-earning; 

(b) The adaptability of the labour force; 
(c) Political sovereignty; 
(d) Development of a centralised tax system and financial institutions; and 
(e) The construction of certain economic and social infrastructure like railways, ports, 
power generation and educational institutions. India did some of these things in the First 
Five Year plan period (1951-56).  

★ It is evident from above that in this second stage of growth foundations for economic 
transfor​mation are laid. The people start using modern science and technology for increasing 
productivity in both agriculture and industry and start producing not just for consumption but 
for sale. 

★ Further, there is a change in the attitude of the people who start viewing the world where there 
are possibilities of future growth. A new class of entrepreneurs emerges in the society who 
mobilise savings and undertake investment in new enterprises and bear risks and uncertainty. 

★ The main focus of this stage is to ensure that investment levels are above 5% of the national 
income depending on various sectors of the economy. 

★ The pre-conditions of take-off closely track the historic stages of the (initially) British Industrial 
Revolution 

3. Take Off  
★ The take-off stage marks the transition of the society from a back​ward one to one that is 
on the verge of freeing itself from the elements that retard growth.This is the crucial 
stage which covers a relatively brief period of two to three decades in which the 
economy transforms itself in such a way that economic growth subsequently takes 
place more or less automatically. 

★ Thus, the term “take-off ” implies three things :  

 
 29 
 
1) first the proportion of investment to national income must rise from 5% to 10% 
and more  
2) secondly, the period must be relatively short so that it should show the 
characteristics of an economic revolution; and  
3) thirdly, it must culminate in self-sustaining and self-generating economic growth. 

★ Thus, during the take-off stage, the desire to achieve economic growth to raise the living 
standards dominates the society. Revolutionary changes occur in both agriculture and 
industry and productivity levels sharply increase. 

★ There is greater urbanisation and urban labour force increases. In a relatively short 
period of a decade or two, both the basic structure of the economy and social and 
political structure is changed So that a self-sustaining growth rate can be maintained. 

★ It is worth noting that in the opinion of Rostow, the rise of new elite (i.e. new 
entrepreneurial class) and establishment of a nation state are crucial for economic 
development. 

★ Development of One Leading Sector: Development of export industries has led to take 
off in some countries. Example grains in USA, Canada and Russia, Timber in Sweden. 
Sector or the sectors that led to take off were varied according to countries. However, 
Rostow has concluded that any industry can play the role of leading sector in the take off 
stage that to be met with  

4. Drive to maturity  
This stage of economic growth occurs when the economy becomes mature and is capable of 
generating self-sustained growth. Generally, the Drive to Maturity starts about 60 years after 
“Take Off” 

The rates of saving and investment are of such a magnitude that economic development 
becomes automatic. Overall capital per head increases as the economy matures. The structure 
of the economy changes increasingly. 

(1) Emergence of New Industries 

The initial key industries which sparked the take-off decelerate. The average rate of growth is 
maintained by a succession of new rapidly-growing sectors with a new set of leading sectors. 
Industries like heavy engineering, iron and steel, chemicals, machine tools, agricultural 
im​plements, automobiles etc. take the driver’s seat. 

 
 30 
 

(2) Shift in the Occupational Distribution: 

Work force composition in agriculture shifts from 75% of the working population to 20%. The 
workers acquire greater skill and their wages increase in real terms. 

Example: As during Industrial Revolution many industries established in Britain and the 
countries of. Western Europe, the work force was shifted from agricultural sector to the 
manufacturing sector. The proportion of the working force en​gaged in the agricultural sector 
went down to 20% or less. 

(3) More skilled workers 

(4) The character of leadership changes significantly in the industries and a high degree of 
professionalism is introduced 

(5) Environmental and health cost of industrialization is recognized and policy changes are thus 
made. 

A prime example of a country in the Drive to Maturity stage is South Africa. It is developing a 
world-class infrastructure- including a modern transport network, widely available energy, and 
sophisticated telecommunications facilities. Additionally, the commercial farm sector shed 
140,000 jobs, a decline of roughly 20%, in the eleven-year period from 1988 to 1998. 

5. Age of high mass consumption 

● In this stage of development per capita income of country rises to such a high level that 
consumption basket of the people increases beyond food, clothing and shelters to articles of 
comforts and luxuries on a mass scale. Further, with progressive industrialisa​tion and 
urbanisation of the economy values of people change in favour of more consumption of 
luxuries and high styles of living.  

● New types of industries producing durable consumer goods come into existence which 
satisfies the wants for more consumption. These new industries producing durable consumer 
goods become the new leading sectors of economic growth. 

● increase in employment in the service sectors and high incomes 

● In this age of high mass consumption the society is able to choose between concentrating on 
military and security issues, on equality and welfare issues or developing luxuries for its upper 
class. 

 
 31 
 
● Historically, the United States is said to have reached this stage first, followed by other western 
European nations, and then Japan in the 1950s. 

Criticism of the model 

1. Rostow is historical in the sense that the end result is known at the outset and is derived 
from the historical geography of a developed, bureaucratic society. 

2. Rostow is mechanical in the sense that the underlying motor of change is not disclosed and 
therefore the stages become little more than a classificatory system based on data from 
developed countries. 

3. His model is based on American and European history and defines the American norm of 
high mass consumption as integral to the economic development process of all industrialized 
societies. 

4. His model assumes the inevitable adoption of Neoliberal trade policies which allow the 
manufacturing base of a given advanced polity to be relocated to lower-wage regions. 

5. Rostow's model does not apply to the Asian and the African countries as events in these 
countries are not justified in any stage of his model. The stages are not identifiable properly as 
the conditions of the take-off and pre take-off stage are very similar and also overlap. 

6. According to Rostow growth becomes automatic by the time it reaches the maturity stage 
but Kuznets asserts that no growth can be automatic there is need for push always. 

TOPIC 2: Non-Linear: World System Theory, Neo-Marxist 

Theory  
 

WORLD SYSTEMS THEORY 

Modernization theory claimed that once developing societies came into contact with western 
European and North American societies, they would be impelled toward modernization and, 
eventually, would achieve the economic, political, and social features characteristic of the 
nations of western Europe and the United States. However, by the 1960s it was apparent that 
the Third World was not passing through a stage of underdevelopment, as envisioned by 
modernization theory, but remaining underdeveloped. Thus, a counterclaim was advanced—that 

 
 32 
 
developing countries today are structurally different from the advanced countries and so will 
have to develop along different lines.  

This perspective formed the basis of what came to be known as dependency theory. 
Dependency theory rejects the limited national focus of modernization theory and emphasizes 
the importance of understanding the complexity of imperialism and its role in shaping 
postcolonial states.  

World systems theory is a response to the criticisms of Dependency Theory. World Systems 
Theory was developed by Immanuel Wallerstein (1979). 

Wallerstein accepts the fact ex-colonies are not doomed to be forever trapped in a state of 
dependency; it is possible for them to climb the economic ladder of development, as many of 
them have done. However, he also believes that the global capitalism system still requires 
some countries, or at least regions within countries to be poor so they can be exploited by the 
wealthy at the top. 

One must look at the world system as a whole, rather than just at individual countries. 
Dependency Theory tended to argue that countries are poor because they used to be exploited 
by other countries. However focusing on countries (or governments/ nation states) is the 
wrong level of analysis – government today have declined in power, whereas Corporations are 
more powerful than ever. Global Corporations, and global capital, transcend national 
boundaries, and nation states (even wealthy ones) are relatively powerless to control them, thus 
in order to understand why countries are rich or poor, we should be looking at global economic 
institutions and corporations rather than countries. Global Economic Institutions form what 
Wallerstein calls a Modern World System, and all countries, rich and poor alike are caught up in 
it. 

According to the world’s system theory, the entire world at least since the 16th century, not 
merely a collection of independent countries but as a s
​ ingle capitalist world economy​ based on 
an international division of labour among a core that developed originally in northwestern 
Europe (England, France, Holland), a periphery, and a semiperiphery consisting of core regions 
in decline (e.g., Portugal and Spain) or peripheries attempting to improve their relative position 
in the world economy (e.g., Italy, southern Germany, and southern France).  

The division of labour among these regions determined their relationship to each other as well 
as their type of labour conditions and political system. 

According to the world systems theory, the world is divided into three types of countries or 
areas: core, periphery, and semi-periphery.  

 
 33 
 

Core Countries 

Core countries are dominant capitalist countries that exploit peripheral countries for labor and 
raw materials. They are strong in military power and not dependent on any one state or country. 
They serve the interests of the economically powerful. They are focused on higher skill and 
capital-intensive production. Core countries are powerful, and this power allows them to pay 
lower prices for raw goods and exploit cheap labor, which constantly reinforces the unequal 
status between core and peripheral countries. 

The first core region was located in northwestern Europe and made up of England, France, and 
Holland. Today, the United States is an example of a core country. The U.S. has large amounts 
of capital, and its labor forces are relatively well paid. 

Periphery Countries 

Periphery countries fall on the other end of the economic scale. These countries lack a strong 
central government and may be controlled by other states. These countries export raw 
materials to the core countries, and they are dependent on core countries for capital and have 
underdeveloped industry. These countries also have low-skill, labor-intensive production, or, in 
other words, cheap labor. Periphery countries are commonly also referred to as third-world 
countries. 

Eastern Europe and Latin America were the first peripheral zones. An example from today is 
Cape Verde, a chain of islands off the west coast of Africa. Foreign investors promote the 
extraction of raw materials and the production of cash crops, which are all exported to core 
countries. 

Semi-Periphery Countries 

Semi-periphery countries fall in the middle of the economic spectrum. These countries share 
characteristics of both core and periphery countries. These are core regions in decline or 
periphery regions attempting to improve their economic position. These countries are 
sometimes exploited by core countries, but they also may exploit periphery countries 
themselves. For example, India is largely dependent on core countries for capital, but India has 
a growing technology industry and an emerging consumer market. 

Dependency and world systems theories share a common emphasis on global analysis and 
similar assumptions about the nature of the international system and its impact on national 
development in different parts of the world, but they tend to emphasize different political 
dynamics. Dependency theorists tend to focus on the power of transnational classes and class 

 
 34 
 
structures in sustaining the global economy, whereas world systems analysts tended to focus 
on the role of powerful states and the interstate system 

TOPIC 3: Changing Paradigms of Development 

An important change that happens when the usual way of thinking or doing something is 
replaced by a new and different way. This discovery will bring about a paradigm shift in our 
understanding. Paradigm: the way you see something, your point of view, frame of reference 
or belief.  

The western model for development predominated in 1950s and 1960s. The modernization 
paradigm arose soon after World War II, in 1949. It envisioned development as a challenge to 
bring the "underdeveloped countries" out of their conditions of poverty by modernizing them 
and by by free-market approaches.  

In this context, the modernization paradigm promoted by political scientists and scholars of 
Western countries became so strong and so pervasive in every dimension of social life that it 
became also known as the "dominant paradigm." 

Modernization theory claimed that once developing societies came into contact with western 
European and North American societies, they would be impelled toward modernization and, 
eventually, would achieve the economic, political, and social features characteristic of the 
nations of western Europe and the United States. However, by the 1960s it was apparent that 
the Third World was not passing through a stage of underdevelopment, as envisioned by 
modernization theory, but remaining underdeveloped. Thus, a counterclaim was advanced—that 
developing countries today are structurally different from the advanced countries and so will 
have to develop along different lines.  

Modernisation paradigm failed to materialise, approach focusing on people’s participation 

began to emerge. This participatory model is less oriented to the political-economic dimension 
and more rooted in the cultural realities of development. The development focus has shifted 
from economic growth to include other social dimensions needed to ensure meaningful results 
in the long run The alternative paradigm emphasises not only material development but also 
the development of values and cultures, grassroots participation reinforces the chances that 
communities will adopt activities appropriate for them.  

TOPIC 4 : Alternative Paradigms: Participatory, Think 

local/Act global -Think global/Act local 
 

 
 35 
 

This approach adopted in the 1990s by the United Nations and other development 
organizations as key challenges to be addressed successfully. It is often presented as an 
alternative to mainstream “top-down” development.  

Participatory approach is a strategy that incorporates themes or content area that are of 
interest to the stakeholders. • The Participatory Approach is used as a tool to provide solutions 
to social problems that impact concerned in their daily lives development programs had failed 
to motivate people. •  

Since, they were interested in persuading them about the benefits of adopting certain 
innovations. Development programs tried to bring foreign concepts, to feed information, to 
force local populations to accept Western ideas and practices without considering whether 
these practices fit existing cultures.  

This suggested a human-centered approach that valued the importance of interpersonal 

channels of communication in decision-making processes at the community level. • 
PARTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION approach capable of facilitating people's involvement in 
decision making about issues impacting their lives.  

The basic Common features of this perspective are the emphasis on people, the endogenous 
vision of development, and the attention to power and rights issues. Participatory approaches 
require a shift in the way individuals are considered, from passive recipients to active agents of 
development efforts. idea of such programs was an authoritarian concept.   

In addition to poverty reduction, they include objectives in education, gender equality, and 
health issues. Most development priorities are outlined within political frameworks based on 
the adherence to good governance and democratic principles (for example, freedom and 
human rights. 

The participation is not an absolute concept, and that it can be applied in different degrees, is 
part of the problem.  

A typology that includes seven different types of participation as interpreted and applied by 
various development organizations ,The full categorization, the least participatory,  

1) passive participation,  
2) participation in information giving,  
3) participation by consultation,  
4) participation for material incentives,  

 
 36 
 
5) functional participation, 
6) interactive participation, and  
7) self-mobilization. 

(1) passive participation, when stakeholders attend meetings to be informed; 

(2) participation by consultation, when stakeholders are consulted but the decision making 
rests in the hands of the experts;  

(3) functional participation, when stakeholders are allowed to have some input, although not 
necessarily from the beginning of the process and not in equal partnership; and  

(4) empowered participation, when relevant stakeholders take part throughout the whole cycle 
of the development initiative and have an equal influence on the decision-making process. 

Information sharing and consultation are considered low-level forms of participation, while the 
other two are considered high-level forms. These types are consistent with others, such as the 
classification 

In particular, participatory research methods allowed a growing role for local stakeholders and 
indigenous knowledge in the problem-analysis and problem-solving processes of development 
initiatives. 

The process of raising questions and engaging in dialogue stimulates(inspires) “critical 

consciousness,” which enables the shift to action (Freire, 1970).   

This is a bottom-up approach, that involves extensive discussions, conversations, and 

decision-making with the target community. This process is facilitated with information and 
communication technology (ICT) with the goal of strengthening individual & social development 
• This participatory content creation is an important tool for resolving problems and creating a 
digitally advanced knowledge society • Public should be involved fully in the policy process in 
that authorities seek public views and participation, instead of treating the public as simply 
passive recipients of policy decisions.  

Research conducted by several devt. agencies (World Bank, CIDA(Community & Individual 
Development Association), USAID (US Agency for International development.), IRDP-Institute of 
Rural development Planning) suggests that there are many benefits of PD. • Studies suggest -- 
PD projects may have high start up costs, but they will be less expensive & more sustainable in 
the long run • PD projects are effective at addressing local needs & generally more relevant to 
local populations than traditional development projects   

 
 37 
 

UNIT 3  

TOPIC 1: Role and performance of Mass Media in 

Development  

INTRODUCTION 
● Communication is used for more than just passing on information from one person to 
another. It is often used as a tool to facilitate the participation of people in 
developmental activities. Such form of communication is known as development 
communication. According to Everett Rogers “Development communication refers to the 
uses to which communication are put in order to further development.” 

● Sociologists, psychologists, economists and communication experts are of the 

opinion that the proper use of communication can foster the pace and process of 
development. In general terms, communication means interaction between two 
individuals or within a group or a community or a nation. The foundation of 
communication is based upon four principal elements ----- communication source, a 
message, a channel or medium and a receiver or audience. But in development 
communication it becomes the process of affecting or influencing behavior of 
individuals or groups towards certain desired goals and objectives, necessarily for 
the benefit of the entire society. Thus, the receiver is expected to show the 
behaviour desired by the source of communication.  

● Development communications are organized efforts to use communications 

processes and media to bring social and economic improvements of an individual, 
society or nation (generally in developing countries). It identifies what mass media 
can do directly or indirectly to improve the quality of life to both urban and rural 
masses.  

● Development communication has two primary roles, i.e. Transforming role, as it steps 
social change in the direction of the hygiene taste of today’s generation in this 
competitive market and a socializing role by seeking to maintain some of the 
established values of the society. 

● The role can be discussed as following: 

 
 38 
 
1) Development communication is used for transforming role by bringing in social 
change in a way that will bring a higher quality of life. Here communication acts 
as an instrument to achieve these objectives. 
2) Development communication also tries to maintain the established values of the 
society by playing a socializing role. In playing these roles, development 
communication seeks to create an atmosphere for change as well as providing 
innovation through which society may change 

ROLE OF MASS MEDIA 

The mass media are the vehicles that carry messages to large audiences .They are so 
pervasive in modern life that many people do not even notice their influence.  

According to Wilbur Schramm, the role of media in development can be divided into three parts 
i.e. (i) to inform (ii) to instruct and (iii) to participate. 

1) To inform:​ for the development of the society, correct social, political and economic 
influence is the main criteria. This information should be both national and international. 
People should be aware of the areas or facts which hamper the development process. 
2) To instruct:​ Mass literacy is an essential criteria to development. This is possible by 
imbibing basic skills among the people. Mass media plays an important role in this. 
Mass media can instruct people and educate them. Projects like Educational Television 
and Gyan Darshan are few such examples where media is used to instruct people, 
educate them and teach them basic skills. These basic skills help people to develop their 
standard of living. 
3) To participate:​ Voluntary and steady participation of the citizen of the country is 
necessary for its overall development. Such participation is possible in a liberal society. 
Such awareness is possible through debate, conflict and discussion. Discussions and 
debate helps people to know current issues, participate in developmental programme 
and bring a change in the standard of living of the society. 

The mass media are essential for democracy. By keeping people on top of current issues, the 
media enable people to participate intelligently in public policy discussion and 
decision-making. In a democracy the principal role of the media is to act as a check on the 
state and fearlessly expose abuses of official authorities. This watchdog role is said to 
override in importance all other functions of the media and dictate the form in which the 
media system should be organized. 

 
 39 
 

The mass media also transmit values among contemporary communities and societies, 
sometimes causing changes that otherwise would not occur. Anthropologists have 
documented that mass communication can change society. Thus, the phenomenon 
diffusion of innovations occurs when ideas move through the mass media into the 
society bringing social change.  

Media in developing and under developed countries strive to bring in developmental change, 
through its message to the mass. Mass media through interpretation, analysis and discussion 
point out the drawbacks of the society and core areas of development. The message should be 
such that it should create an urge for change and development among the common men. The 
media in its aim to developmental changes shall function as a decision maker and teacher. 

ROLE IN INDIA, 

India’s process of development since 1947 has been accompanied by significant social 
changes and an increasing awareness about issues affecting the poor, the women and 
the children in India. This period has also seen the burgeoning of the voluntary 
movement in India and the establishment of several non-governmental organizations to 
protect and promote the interests of women and children. The Government has made 
constant attempts to promote values like democracy, freedom from discrimination, 
self-reliance and independence of thought. It has also tried to improve the lot of the 
poor and weaker sections of society. Women and children have figured prominently in the 
government’s agenda of social reforms and initiatives. Today, India is working towards a 
society where the poor, marginalized and underprivileged have equal opportunities in all 
spheres of life. Mass media in this regard has played a very important role by acting as a 
mediator between the government and the people along with the collective action by the 
voluntary agencies, government and other like-minded institutions and individuals. 

Kheda Communication Project (KCP, (1975-89): 

★ SITE demonstrated that the centralization, inherent in the technology of direct broadcasting, 
was a limitation, hence the idea of ‗limited rebroadcast‘ was conceived, giving birth to the 
KCP.  
★ This project was launched in 1975. 607 community television sets have been installed in 443 
villages of Kheda district of Gujrat. Doordarshan and space application centre produces 
programme for one hour everyday. The programmes mainly concentrate on and discussed 
the problem of the poorer classes.  
★ Evaluation of Kheda project revealed that women in particular gained knowledge from TV 
viewing. The serials generated self-confidence, realization of equality etc. 

 
 40 
 
★ Education is a vital instrument of social transformation and important input in development 
effort. The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) is being used to provide Educational TV (ETV), 
services for primary school children in six states. University Grants Commission (UGC) is 
using this for its countrywide classroom programme on higher education (college sector). 
INSAT is also used by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for distance 
education programmes and Doordarshan for Science Channel programmes.   

TOPIC 2: Development Support Communications: Social 

Audit, Grass-root Activism, Whistleblowers 
 

Social Audit 
★ Social audit term was used around 1950. • Howard R Bowen developed social audit concept in
USA in 50’s. There has been a lot of activity and interest in the last seven to eight years in
India.

★ Governments are facing an ever-growing demand to be more accountable and socially

responsible and the people are becoming more confident about their right to be informed and to
influence governments’ decision-making processes.

★ Faced with these vociferous demands, the executive and the legislature are looking for new
ways to evaluate their performance. Civil society organisations are also undertaking ʺSocial
Auditsʺ to monitor and verify the social performance claims of the organisations and
institutions.

★ Social Audit is a tool with which government departments can plan, manage and measure non-
financial activities and monitor both internal and external consequences of the
department/organisation’s social and commercial operations.

★ Social Audit may be defined as an in-depth scrutiny and analysis of the working of any public
utility vis-à-vis its social relevance. Social Audit gained significance especially after the 73rd
Amendment of the Constitution relating to Panchayat Raj Institutions.

PURPOSE

★ The purpose of conducting Social Audit is not to find fault with the individual functionaries but to
assess the performance in terms of social, environmental and community goals of the
organisation.

 
 41 
 
★ It is a way of measuring the extent to which an organisation lives up to the shared values and
objectives it has committed itself to.
★ It provides an assessment of the impact of an organisationʹs non-financial objectives through
systematic and regular monitoring, based on the views of its stakeholders.
★ Findings is shared with all the stakeholders.
★ They can be undertaken independently or by community based organisations or jointly with the
government. They often begin as civil society initiatives.

SALIENT FEATURES

1. Multi-Perspective/Polyvocal: Aims to reflect the views (voices) of all those people

(stakeholders) involved with or affected by the organisation/department/programme.

2. Comprehensive: Aims to (eventually) report on all aspects of the organisationʹs work and
performance.

3. Participatory: Encourages participation of stakeholders and sharing of their values.

4. Multidirectional: Stakeholders share and give feedback on multiple aspects.

5. Regular: Aims to produce social accounts on a regular basis so that the concept and the
practice become embedded in the culture of the organisation covering all the activities.

6. Comparative: Provides a means, whereby, the organisation can compare its own performance
each year and against appropriate external norms or benchmarks; and provide for comparisons
with organisations doing similar work and reporting in similar fashion.

7. Verification: Ensures that the social accounts are audited by a suitably experienced person or
agency with no vested interest in the organisation.

8. Disclosure: Ensures that the audited accounts are disclosed to stakeholders and the wider
community in the interests of accountability and transparency.

 
 42 
 

GRASSROOT ACTIVISM
At its most basic level, grassroots activism is a group of people who feel strongly enough about
an issue to actively campaign to make a difference. Grassroots activism relies on the basic
rights to freedom of speech and expression by individuals when it comes to trying to make a
change to a particular issue. This type of activism is not controlled by any particular political
party. They are an independent group of people who feel strongly about a certain issue and are
willing to put in the effort to affect a change on the issue they are concerned about.

When it comes to campaigning for a change, it can be difficult to create the momentum needed
to make a difference. Unless we are fortunate enough to be in a position of power or influence,
we can struggle to make ourselves heard or to see any real progress towards our goal.

Grassroots activism is about mobilizing a group of people, who are passionate about a cause
and harnessing the power of their conviction to push for a different outcome. This kind of
movement relies on individuals who are willing to drive the change that they are concerned
about from the ground-up. Often, the cause is something very personal and takes place in the
activist’s own community.

This type of advocacy has many challenges. Organisations can struggle to collate support from
diverse donor sources. The activists in question may be geographically distributed, or have skill
gaps that are difficult to fill. Despite these challenges, campaigns are surprisingly effective. In
political history, we have seen grassroots successes within the American civil rights movement,
and the 1980s German peace movement, among countless others.

Grassroots movements utilize a variety of strategies from fundraising and registering voters, to
simply encouraging political conversation. Goals of specific movements vary, but the
movements are consistent in their focus on increasing mass participation in politics.[3] These
political movements may begin as small and at the local level, but grassroots politics as Cornel
West contends are necessary in shaping progressive politics as they bring public attention to
regional political concerns.

Process of Grassroots Activism • Once a grassroots campaign starts to pick up momentum it

can be very effective for making a change. • A successful campaign can begin with one or two
activists that can soon turn into hundreds or more. • If the media picks up on the campaign
then this can make a real difference to the cause. • If the cause has significant support it can
effectively change government policies and laws. • Recent protests have included marches
against the war in Iraq to campaigns in London, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Bhumi Uchhed
Pratirodh Committee in India...

 
 43 
 

The Chipko movement or Chipko Andolan was a forest conservation movement where people
embraced the trees to prevent them from being cut. It began in April 1973 in Reni village of
Chamoli district, Uttarakhand and went on to become a rallying point for many future
environmental movements all over the world.It created a precedent for starting of nonviolent
protest in India,[1] and its success meant that the world immediately took notice of this
non-violent movement, which was to inspire in time many such eco-groups by helping to slow
down the rapid deforestation, expose vested interests, increase ecological awareness, and
demonstrate the viability of people power. Above all, it stirred up the existing civil society in
India, which began to address the issues of tribal and marginalized people.The chipko
aandolan is a movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female
activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles,

TOPIC 3: Role of NGOs in Development  

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) is any association having a definite cultural, 
economic, educational, religious or social cause or any non-profit voluntary citizens group 
which is organised around specific issues, such as education, environmental conservation, 
social welfare, rural development sanitation, healthcare or human rights, on a local, national or 
international level.  

The World Bank defines NGOs as "private organisations that pursue activities to relieve 
suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provides basic social 
services, or undertake community development. NGOs include an array of groups and 
institutions that are entirely or largely independent of government and characterised primarily 
by humanitarian or cooperative, rather than commercial objectives".  

NGOs are increasingly being used as vehicles for development. NGOs are either registered 
with the Home ministry under the Foreign Currency Regulation Act (FCRA) or registered as 
societies under the Societies Regulation Act, 1860. 

TYPES OF NGOS ON THE BASIS OF ORIENTATION: 

1. Operational or Grassroots NGOs:​ Grassroots NGOs work directly with the oppressed 
sections of society. Some NGOs are big, while some are small. These NGOs could be 
either local based, working in a single and small project location or be working in 

 
 44 
 
multiple project areas in different districts, states and regions covering a larger 
population. 

The approach and orientation of grassroots NGOs are also differ. 

● Charity and Welfare NGOs focus on providing charity and welfare to the poor. 
● Development NGOs focus on implementation of concrete development activities. 
● Social action groups focus on mobilizing marginalized section around specific issues 
which challenge the distribution of power and resources in society. 
● Empowerment NGOs combine development activities with issue based struggles. 
2. Support NGOs: S
​ upport NGOs provide services that would strengthen the capacities of 
grassroots NGOs, Panchayati Raj Institutions, co-operatives and others to function more 
effectively. 
3. Umbrella or Network NGOs:​ Network NGOs are formal associations or informal groups 
of grassroots and / or support NGOs which meet periodically on particular concerns. E.g. 
FEVORD-K (Federation of Voluntary Organizations in Karnataka). They act as a forum to 
share experiences, carry out joint development endeavors as well as engage in lobbying 
and advocacy. 
4. Funding NGOs:​ The primary activity of these NGOs is funding grassroots NGOs, Support 
NGOs or peoples organizations. Most funding NGOs in India generate a major part of 
their resources from foreign sources; through there is an effort by some to raise funds 
from within India. 

TYPES OF NGOS BASED ON THE LEVEL OF ORIENTATION 

1. Community-based Organizations (CBOs) a ​ rise out of people's own initiatives. These can 
include sports clubs, women's organizations, neighbourhood organizations, religious or 
educational organizations. There are a large variety of these, some supported by NGOs, 
national or international NGOs, or bilateral or international agencies, and others 
independent of outside help. Some are devoted to rising the consciousness of the urban 
poor or helping them to understand their rights in gaining access to needed services 
while others are involved in providing such services. 
2. Citywide Organizations​ include organizations such as the Rotary or lion's Club, 
chambers of commerce and industry, coalitions of business, ethnic or educational 
groups and associations of community organizations. Some exist for other purposes, 
and become involved in helping the poor as one of many activities, while others are 
created for the specific purpose of helping the poor. 
3. National NGOs​ include organizations such as the Red Cross, YMCAs/YWCAs, 
professional organizations etc. Some of these have state and city branches and assist 
local NGOs. 

 
 45 
 
4. International NGOs​ range from secular agencies such as Redda BArna and Save the 
Children organizations, OXFAM, CARE, Ford and Rockefeller Foundations to religiously 
motivated groups. Their activities vary from mainly funding local NGOs, institutions and 
projects, to implementing the projects themselves. 

Role Of Ngos in Development 

“The NGOs are generally in better position to both comprehend people’s perspective at the local 
level and share with people the changing perspective at the global level. In this sense, they act 
locally and think globally.” ‘ 

They are becoming a measure of a citizen’s participation. They work on issues of poverty, 
literacy, health, population, women empowerment and so on. 

Globalization has offered many challenges for developing new models for development, 
participation and approaching the common problems. The planning for development was 
done by the govt., but then it was realized that the govt. system were too rigid to solve 
the problems as it is highly bureaucratic in nature and complex in mechanism. A credible NGO 
with appropriate and adequate professional inputs and training can plan and execute a 
govt. program. Thus, govt allocates a large sum of money to NGOs. 

The strength of the NGOs lays in their approach and methods for motivating people to 
participate in developmental process. When govt. works for development it has target 
oriented approaches, and works as consultant. It is least concerned about needs and 
problems of people whereas NGOs work with a friendly and informal approach. They 
motivate people to participate in all stages of the programmes. NGOs are purposeful, 
role-bound, social units. They are group of people who allocate tasks between 
themselves to contribute to a common goal. They are self-motivated, value-driven, 
committed, adaptable, authentic and feel empowered to work like co-owners of the 
organization.   

Positive Role of NGOs in the Process of Development 

1. They work more professionally than political parties and pressure groups as they are 
more concerned with delivery of services than power and politics. 
2. They have proved themselves a number of times. Amnesty International and The Red 
Cross have in the past won Nobel Peace Prize for their good work. 

 
 46 
 
3. The United Nations has also allowed various NGOs to participate in various agencies and 
organizations of the world body. It has recognized their ability to reach more and more 
people in order to spread awareness. 
4. In the LPG era, the government has outsourced a number of welfare and developmental 
activities to the NGOs in order to narrow down its fiscal deficit. As a result, they receive 
contributions from the Central Government and foreign donors like the World Bank. 
5. This will provide employment opportunities to a large number of people. 
6. These NGOs work as agents at the grassroots level in negotiating with the Government 
when the victims of say, land acquisition, do not have the time or resources to seek 
redress. 
7. They also work as the agents of voiceless people like prostitutes, LGBT, HIV victims, 
victims of custodial torture etc to fight for their rights. Usually NGO offices have a 
‘Gender- desk’ while government offices do not have it. 

Emphasis on the role of NGOs  

In five years plans After Independence, India was declared as a welfare state and relevant 
provisions were included in the Constitution of India. Social welfare was included as part 
of the Five Year Plans. The major responsibility of organizing social welfare services 
continued with the voluntary organizations. The GOI during the sixth Five year plan with its 
famous”GARIBI HATAO” slogan did recognize the importance of NGOs in the development 
process of India. In the seventh FYP, it gave a task of developing “self-reliance communities” to 
NGOs for promoting rural development. Later in the eighth FYP, government sought to promote 
nationwide network of NGOs. In its ninth FYP, it envisaged the primary role of in promoting 
PPPS in the country. The tenth FYP envisaged the need and importance of NGOS in developing 
agricultural sector by promoting awareness among the farmers about various modern farm 
techniques and government initiatives for their benefit. Moreover, government has also been 
promoting the development of NGOs through financial aid and assistance programmes through 
Self Help Organizations.   

The widespread belief that NGOs are more successful in reaching the poor in poverty 
reduction also resulted in rapid growth of funding for NGOs by government and external 
donors. As far as the government funding is concerned, there are over 200 government 
schemes initiated by the central and state governments through which NGOs can have 
direct access to resources for rural development. 

 
 47 
 

In recent times, many Non Governmental organisations have been concentrating social 
mobilization on contemporary issues of importance such as women empowerment, 
human rights, and implementation of various central and state government development 
programmes. The NGOs in India have contributed handsomely towards social mobilization 
and social activism through their intensive campaigns, people’s mobilization programmes 
and effective networks. The NGO as a social force facilitates collective action and people 
mobilization for the purpose of achieving the desired objectives. The NGOs are deploying 
various people-oriented as well as people-centred strategies, and these organizations build 
rapport with the people and mobilize them. The NGOs play in making the people 
environmentally aware and sensitive to take part in the development process  

Top 5 NGO’s in India  

1. Samman Foundation- They work for the rickshaw pullers by providing opportunities to 
live their normal livelihood.  
2. Goonj- works for the flood relief measures.  
3. Akshaya Trust - They work for the helpless, forsaken, mentally ill, old and sick and road 
side destitute living in Madurai.  
4. Smile Foundation-They provide healthcare services to the under privileged class of the 
society .  
5. Udaan Welfare Foundation- Work for Children and destitute women. 
 
The number of homeless people suffering every winter due to lack of shelter, water and 
sanitation has reached close to a million in India. A large proportion of homeless people die 
every year, not due to lack of food, but due to lack of proper clothing to protect them from 
extreme conditions in winter. A large number of deaths are reported due to lack of hygienic 
and comfortable clothing in India. 

GOONJ: A recipient of the “NGO of the Year” award in 2007 at the India NGO Awards, this NGO 
aims at solving the clothing problems of the downtrodden. Goonj also provides relief during 
Rahat floods in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar. 

As part of the clothes for work programme, the villagers are encouraged to take up tasks to 
benefit their villages and are paid in return through clothes. For instance, a well was built in the 
Khandwa region, in the north west of India, for zero cost. Recently, a bridge that was 200ft long 
was built in one of the rural areas in Bihar for just 2,250 rupees (46 dollars) through the efforts 

 
 48 
 
of the villagers. By making them work for the clothes, Goonj.. is able to create sustainable 
impact in the communities. 

Through its efforts, Goonj.. is also creating awareness so that other organisations can 
participate in solving the issue. 

By working closely with organisations spread across the country, Goonj.. runs a nationwide 
network to collect and distribute clothes, minimising the cost per item to less than 1 rupee (2 
cents). 

TOPIC 4: Cyber media and Development: e-governance, 

digital democracy & e-chaupal 
 

E-Governance  
E-governance, expands to electronic governance, is the integration of Information and 
Communication Technology (ICT) in all the processes, with the aim of enhancing government 
ability to address the needs of the general public. The basic purpose of e-governance is to 
simplify processes for all, i.e. government, citizens, businesses, etc. at National, State and local 
levels. 

The new technology, in fact is being increasingly used for governance (Electronic 
governance) and during emergencies. On a broader aspect, e-governance it involves an 
effort by the government to lead society from an industrial to an information age. 

E-governance refers to the delivery of national or local government information and services 
via the Internet or other digital means to citizens or other governmental agencies. 
E-government is a one-stop Internet gateway to major government services.  

What is e-Governance  

Electronic Governance is the application of Information Technology to the processes of 

Government functioning in order to bring about ----- (SMART) Governance  

S-Simple   

M-Moral 
A-Accountable 
R-Responsive 
T-Transparent.   

 
 49 
 

It also involves transformation from being a passive information and service provider to active 
citizen involvement.   

Evolution of E-Governance requires hardware, networking, software and re-engineering of 

the procedures for better delivery of services.   

e-Governance Services  

e-Governance may include very broad range of services for almost all segments of 
society. The most common areas of E-Governance applications are:   

1) Electronic commerce and business regulations  

2) Taxation and revenue  
3) Law Enforcement and Courts  
4) Digital democracy   
5) Agriculture  
6) Education  
7) Health  
8) Transport  

e-Governance in India 

As part of the increased trust on e-Governance, Ministry of Communications & 

Information Technology, Department of Information Technology, GoI (Govt of India) has set up 
a Centre for e-Governance (CEG) in New Delhi in 2000. The Centre, first of its kind in the 
country, showcases the best practices in the area of e-Governance, conducts programs 
for creating awareness among decision makers in the Centre and State Governments and 
provides technical consultation etc.  
Benefits of e-Governance 
e-Governance sees the people in government, business and citizens working together 
for the benefit of all. If properly implemented, the benefits of e-Governance are 
enormous. Some of its obvious benefits are: 
1.​ Integrated Information and services:​ e-Governance targets to use a government-wide 
electronic information infrastructure to simplify service delivery, reduce duplication, and 
improve the level and speed of service to clients at a lower cost. Different types of services 
offered by different government departments like collecting taxes, granting licenses, 
administering regulations, paying grants and benefits, can be availed at one place. 

2. ​Cost Reduction ​– Most of the Government expenditure is appropriated towards the cost of 

 
 50 
 
stationary. Paper-based communication needs lots of stationary, printers, computers, etc. 
which calls for continuous heavy expenditure. Internet and Phones makes communication 
cheaper saving valuable money for the Government. 

3.​ Anywhere Services:​ Provision of fully interactive on-line services by e-Governance 

gives public access to government services with quicker responses at convenient times. 
4. ​This on-line accessibility o
​ f stored information from remote locations allows 
government officials to serve any citizen from a government office located in any part of 
the state or country. 

 
Successful e-Governance projects in states: 
1. BHOOMI of Karnataka: The first e-governance project on Land Records Computerization 
System. 
2. WARANA of Maharashtra: ‘Wired Village’ concept at Warana cooperative complex in 
Kolhapur and Sangli districts in Maharashtra. 
3. RASI (Rural Access to Services through Internet): Rural IT infrastructure in Tamil N
​ adu. 
4. E-SEVA of Andhra Pradesh: Provides services relating to payment of Utility Bills, 
Certificates, Permits / licenses, reservation etc. 
Case Study: Project GYANDOOT, Location – Dhar, Madhya Pradesh 

 
Dhar  is  a  tribal  dominated  and  a  drought prone district of Madhya Pradesh. More than half of 
the  population  of  the  district  is  tribal  and  around  two-fifth  are  living  below  poverty  line. 
Gyandoot  is  a  low  cost  rural  intranet  project  based on e-governance started in the year 2000. 
The  main  aim  of  Gyandoot  is  to  harness  Information  and  Communication  Technologies  to 
improve governance at village, block and district levels.  
 
The  project  has  linked  around  35  kiosks  in  the  district  with  the  district  headquarters  of  the 
local government. The kiosks include a networked computer and printer. This set up has been 
enabled  by  the  State  government.  Software  working  in  Hindi  language  and  touch  screen 
applications  has  been  designed  to  encourage  maximum  utilization  and  access  by  poor  rural 
farmers. 
 
Gyandoot  provides  many  information  services  to  the  farmers  like  best  practices  related  to 
agriculture,  prices  of  agricultural  produce  in  different  markets,  online  registration  and 
provision  of  land  records,  rural  email  facility,  information  regarding  government  (rural 
development)  programs,  Ask  the  Expert,  Avedan  Patra  (application  formats  for  rural 
development schemes). 
. 
The  facility  for  auction  site  gives  the  farmers  a  new  way  of  selling  their  lands,  agricultural 

 
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machinery,  bullocks  and  equipments.  Usually,  in  this  kind  of  buying  in selling, middlemen are 
involved.  The  online  facility  eliminates the possibility of the middlemen and their commission 
and  dictated  prices.  „Ask  the  expert‟  facility  answers  the  queries  of  the  farmers  regarding 
agriculture, animal husbandry, health, etc. 

Digital democracy 
Digital democracy incorporates 21st-century information and communications technology to 
promote democracy. It is a form of government in which all adult citizens are presumed to be 
eligible to participate equally in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. 

Stages of Digital Democracy 

Both in developed and developing countries, a four stage model of digital democracy is 
accepted and practiced. The stages are:  

● information disclosure,  
● listening/consultation,  
● online deliberation, and  
● online decision-making.  

Digital democracy develops from lower-level stage of information disclosure to 

higher-level stage of online decision-making. These stages are ordered according to the extent 
of citizen participation by means of the Internet. In the stage of information disclosure, public 
agencies provide useful information about policy matters on the Internet so that can 
read and form opinions. In the stage of listening/consultation, public agencies receive 
feedback or opinions from citizens through government Web sites. In the stage of online 
deliberation, citizens and public officials discuss policy issues online. In the stage of online 
decision-making, citizens participate in decision-making online - making it genuine computer 
supported cooperative work.  

In a democracy, major power vests with the people. It enhances the accountability of elected 
representatives. After casting one?s vote, one need not be a passive spectator to the whims 
and fancies of the ruling regime until the next election crops up. It bypasses the army of 
bureaucrats that stands between the Government and citizen, thereby reducing scope of 
corruption. People can express their views directly to the government. 

e-Democracy helps in dissemination of political information and enhancement of 

communication and participation in the governing process. Participants of e-Democracy would 
include civil society, administration, politicians and the economy. It also empowers citizens in 

 
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the process of making major national decisions. eDemocracy initiatives could be e-forums, 
e-town hall meetings, e-consultations, e-referenda, e-voting, e-rule making and other forms of 
e-Participation 

Amongst the most debated topics of implementing governmental and democratic processes 
using electronic systems is the electronic voting. Voting through online mode constitutes just a 
small part of the effort to establish electronic communication between citizens and 
governmental functions (G2C and C2G). The ultimate goal is to provide access to information 
and to open up decision-making processes to citizens (e-participation) to encourage a 
grass-roots engagement of citizens with democratic processes.  

The success story of e-Democracy is patchy and disparate. There is no direct correlation 
between broadband access to the internet and a strong record in e-Governance followed 
by e-Democracy. For example, United States of America which has high level of broadband 
access has not done much while Canada and Scandinavian countries have done lot for 
e-Democracy. In Central and Eastern Europe where adoption of Internet was very recent, 
elements of e-Democracy have been successfully adopted. 

In United Kingdom, BBC launched a project by name iCan which was an offshoot of the 
previous year’s General Election report. It is an interactive service designed to help people 
participate in democracy and civic life. The goals of iCan are Information provision, 
Information sharing by users and providing Campaigning tools. Within a year of launch during 
November 2003, the audience grew to 100000 unique users per month with 6500 registered 
users. iCan eventually achieved its purpose of acting as a forum for addressing issues in civic 
life.  

On 26th July 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched MyGov with the vision to take 
forward Jan-Bhagidari for the development of the nation. Since then, MyGov has been working 
towards “Creating a participatory digital democracy, leveraging technology to enable every 
citizen to contribute ideas and efforts for nation-building, transforming these ideas into action 
and recognizing individual contributions.” 

MyGov platform has become a key part of the policy and decision making process of the 
country. Where the platform has been able to provide the citizens a voice in the governance 
process of the country and create grounds for the citizens to become stakeholders not only in 
policy formulation and recommendation bit but also implementation through actionable tasks. 
Given the importance of this platform in transformation of India through participatory 
governance, the platform has been constantly undergoing upgrades to ensure an enhanced 
level of user experience. The major attributes of MyGov includes Discussion, Tasks, Talks, Polls 
and Blogs on various groups based on the diverse governance and public policy issues. 

 
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CRITIQUES  

Looking at the other aspect of this virtual participatory form of democracy, there are some 
serious threats which can be called the technical pathogens. It means they will eat up the very 
source from where they evolved 

For example, the kind of legitimacy that has been given to private players like Facebook and 
Twitter by the present NDA government is unprecedented. And in the wake of the 
Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, it has come to the fore how private information of 
more than 50 million Facebook users have been harvested for election campaigns by various 
nations and political parties. 

Indian Facebook users are also suspected to be a victim of the data breach. That mainstream 
political parties are going more and more digital in their election management instead of going 
directly to the people, also says a lot about the dangers, not to mention the vulnerability of the 
EVM machines. 

Voters can no longer be sure if their mandate has been manipulated or not. They can no longer 
be sure that technological intervention in the process of election and democracy is safe. 

E-Chaupal 
Agriculture provides livelihood to about 65% of the population in India. Still India has not been 
able to achieve the world level of productivity. The immense potential of Indian 
agriculture is waiting to be unleashed.   

Chaupal Concept:​ In Hindi, the word choupal means a meeting place. Chaupal constitutes 
an informal assembly, a forum that villagers call their own, a place where knowledge 
could be shared and captured. One important aspect of Indian culture for the Indian farmers is 
the chaupal meeting which is like an informal gathering of farmers in the evening on their way 
home from their fields to discuss the news of the day.  

e-chaupal concept​ E-choupal is a virtual market place where farmers can transact directly with 
a processor and can realize better price for their produce. e-Chaupal makes use of the; 
physical transmission capabilities of current intermediaries & aggregation, logistics, 
counter-party risk and bridge financing. 

History E
​ -Choupal is an initiative of the International Business Division (IBD) of one of India’s 
leading private companies, ITC Ltd. Beginning in 2000, ITC set up a network of ICT kiosks 
around the country, called e-Choupal (an open meeting place in a village).  

 
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Every e-Choupal centre is equipped with a computer, Internet connectivity through satellite 
technology and solar power. In addition, it provides access to a web portal with current 
agriculture commodity prices at the village level for produce transactions. Additionally, 
e-Choupal supports best practices in farming through training sessions, provides information 
on weather conditions, and supplies quality agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilisers.  

E-choupal assuring supply for the company while cutting costs through improving the 
efficiency of the procurement value chain, which also results in better margins for the farmer. 
Apart from buying agricultural produce, other services, including informational services, are 
provided with the help of this ICT backbone.  

In May 1999, Mr.Sivakumar, Chief Executive of ITC, anchored a brainstorming session of the 
ITC management team. The team knew that in order to reduce the cost inefficiencies 
incurred in the supply chain, i.e. from the village to mandi to factory the cycle had to be 
broken. The idea of digital technologies came in handy. Indeed the team worked to develop a 
business model that incorporated “e” into the age old tradition of village chaupals to 
facilitate the reorganization of the channel. Knowledge shared and captured in the 
traditional chaupal could be extraordinarily useful to the farmers, but it had traditionally 
been limited to the verbal communication. Farmers not knowing market prices ahead of 
harvest were not able to plan and create secure financial base but instead had an 
existence based on day- to-day survival.   

E-Choupal Model 

In the e-Choupal model, ITC sets up a backup physical service support at the village 
level called choupal through sanchalak, a lead farmer who acts as an interface between the 
computer and the farmer. ITC accumulates information regarding weather, modern farming 
practices, market prices from sources like Meteorological Department, Agricultural 
Universities, mandis (regional markets), etc. and uploads all information on the e-chaupal 
website. All information is customized according to the local farmer’s requirements and 
provided into local language through computer set up by ITC in Sanchalak’s house. 
Sanchalak access this information and disseminates it to the farmers. Information 
regarding weather and scientific farming help farmers to select the right crop and improve the 
productivity of their farms. Availability of market information helps farmers to become market 
oriented.  

They know what price ITC is quoting and the price prevalent in the local market, thereby helping 
better price realization by farmers. If farmer decides to sell to ITC, Sanchalak works as the 
aggregator of small farmers. Sanchalak aggregates farmers purchase orders for various 

 
 55 
 
items like seeds, pesticides and place them directly with the suppliers through internet and 
facilitate supply of high quality farm inputs as well as purchase of farm produce at the 
farmer’s doorstep with the help of intermediaries. he sanchalak gets a fixed commission set by 
ITC for every transaction from his village that is realised through the ITC procurement hub.  

An upsanchalak serves as a link between the e-Choupal village and surrounding villages. The 
upsanchalak communicates daily prices received from the sanchalak to farmers in his village. 
This further reduces the time spent on finding agricultural prices by farmers in non-e-Choupal 
villages. The sanchalaks and upsanchalaks negotiate a sharing of the ITC commission 
amongst themselves 

 
 

UNIT 4  

TOPIC 2: Corporate Social Responsibility: case studies in 

India 
 

Jamshedji Tata, the pioneer of social responsibility in India, said, “Wealth that comes from the 
people as far as possible must go back to people.” it is against the background of this 
philosophy, the concept of corporate social responsibility began in India st Jamshedpur, Bihar 

The changing corporate world has also increased the importance of CSR.  

Every organization has to confront with a global economy; a technological revolution, an 
information revolution and proliferation of sources of information; emergence of large 
companies with international business; mergers and acquisitions, and signs of increasing 
environmental damages. Reputation are either strengthened or damaged as the information is 
flowing with lightning speed. As a result, the concept of corporate citizenship and corporate 
social responsibility is growing in the modern world 

Definitions  

 
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Bowen (1953) defined it as the obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies to make 
those decisions or to follow those lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objectives 
and values of our society.  

Keith Davis (1960), defined CSR as businessmen’s decisions and actions taken for reasons at 
least partially beyond the firm’s direct economic or technical interest.   

Features of CSR 

★ The CSR approach is holistic and integrated with the core business strategy for addressing 
social and environmental impacts of business. 
★ CSR needs to address the well-being of all stakeholders and not just the company’s 
shareholders 
★ Philanthropic activities are only a part of CSR, which otherwise constitutes a much larger set 
of activities entailing strategic business benefits. 

Recognizing how important social responsibility is to their customers, many companies now 
focus on and practice a few broad categories of corporate social responsibility (CSR). 

Broad Categories of CSR  

1.​ Environmental efforts:- ​One primary focus of CSR Businesses regardless of size have a large 
carbon footprint. (measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of 
the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide). Any steps 
they can take to reduce those footprints are considered both good for the company and society 
as a whole. European companies have really led the way on environment efforts, such as green 
energy usage, eco-friendly office and travel policies etc.   

2.​ Philanthropy: ​Businesses also practice social responsibility by donating to national and local 
charities Businesses have a lot of resources that can benefit charities and local community 
programs.   

3. ​Ethical labor practices: ​ By treating employees fairly and ethically, companies can also 
demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. This is especially true of businesses that 
operate in national & international locations with labor laws.   

4.​Volunteering (performs a service willingly & without pay ):--​ Attending volunteering events 
says a lot about a company's sincerity. By doing good deeds without expecting anything in 
return, companies are able to express their concern for specific issues and support for certain 
organizations. • Examples:--Mahindra & Mahindra is one such company that decided in its 60th 
year to donate 1% of profits after tax (around Rs 1.3 crore as per figures shown) into CSR. • Its 

 
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activities include the K.C. Mahindra Education Trust, which promotes education at various 
levels. 

CSR in India 

India is the first country in the world to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandatory, 
following an amendment to The Company Act, 2013 in April 2014. Businesses can invest their 
profits in areas such as education, poverty, gender equality, and hunger. 

The CSR provision within the Act is applicable to companies with an annual turnover of 1,000 
crore INR and more, or a net worth of 500 crore INR and more or more during a financial year, 
shall earmark 2 percent of average net profits of three years towards CSR. The companies are 
required to set up a CSR committee consisting of their board members, including at least one 
independent director. It is also mandatory that company boards should have at least one 
female member. 

CSR in India, still remains within the philanthropic space, but has moved from institutional 
building (education, research and cultural) to community building through various projects. 
With the global influences and with communities becoming more active and demanding, there 
appears to be a discernible trend that while CSR remains largely restricted to community 
development, it is getting more strategic in nature. A large number of companies are reporting 
the activities they are undertaking in this space in their official websites, annual reports, 
sustainability reports and even publishing CSR reports. 

CASE STUDIES 

ITC Group 

ITC Group, a conglomerate with business interests across hotels, FMCG, agriculture, IT, and 
packaging sectors has been focusing on creating sustainable livelihood and environment 
protection programs. The company has been able to generate sustainable livelihood 
opportunities for six million people through its CSR activities. Their e-Choupal program, which 
aims to connect rural farmers through the internet for procuring agriculture products, covers 
40,000 villages and over four million farmers. Its social and farm forestry program assists 
farmers in converting wasteland to pulpwood plantations. Social empowerment programs 
through micro-enterprises or loans have created sustainable livelihoods for over 40,000 rural 
women. 

Coca - Cola 

This case is about Coca-Cola's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in India. It details 
the activities taken up by Coca-Cola India's management and employees to contribute to the 

 
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society and community in which the company operates.Coca-Cola India being one of the 
largest beverage companies in India, realized that CSR had to be an integral part of its 
corporate agenda. According to the company, it was aware of the environmental, social, and 
economic impact caused by a business of its scale and therefore it had decided to implement a 
wide range of initiatives to improve the quality of life of its customers, the workforce, and 
society at large. 

However, the company came in for severe criticism from activists and environmental experts 
who charged it with depleting groundwater resources in the areas in which its bottling plants 
were located, thereby affecting the livelihood of poor farmers, dumping toxic and hazardous 
waste materials near its bottling facilities, and discharging waste water into the agricultural 
lands of farmers. Moreover, its allegedly unethical business practices in developing countries 
led to its becoming one of the most boycotted companies in the world.  

Notwithstanding the criticisms, the company continued to champion various initiatives such as 
rainwater harvesting, restoring groundwater resources, going in for sustainable packaging and 
recycling, and serving the communities where it operated. Coca-Cola planned to become water 
neutral in India by 2009 as part of its global strategy of achieving water neutrality. Coca-Cola 
gradually changed its strategy to include damage-control measures that addressed the Indian 
communities’ grievances. In 2008 the company published its first environmental performance 
report on operations in India, which covered activities from 2004 to 2007.  

It also created the Coca-Cola India Foundation, Anandana, which works with local communities 
and NGOs to address local water problems.  

But perhaps the most outstanding change of strategy by Coca-Cola consisted of launching 
various community water projects in India. An example is the rainwater harvesting project, 
where Coca-Cola’s operations partnered with the Central Ground Water Authority, the State 
Ground Water Boards, NGOs and communities to address water scarcity and depleting 
groundwater levels through rainwater harvesting techniques across 17 states in India. 

By returning to the ecosystem the water used in its operations in India through water 
harvesting, the company expected that this project could eventually turn the company into a 
‘net zero’ user of groundwater by 2009. In the 2012 Water Stewardship and Replenish Report, 
Coca-Cola stated that its operations in India have ‘achieved full balance between groundwater 
used in beverage production and that replenished to nature and communities – ahead of the 
global target’ 

 
 59 
 

Mahindra & Mahindra 

Indian automobile manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) established the K. C. Mahindra 
Education Trust in 1954, followed by Mahindra Foundation in 1969 with the purpose of 
promoting education. The company primarily focuses on education programs to assist 
economically and socially disadvantaged communities. CSR programs invest in scholarships 
and grants, livelihood training, healthcare for remote areas, water conservation, and disaster 
relief programs. M&M runs programs such as Nanhi Kali focusing on girl education, Mahindra 
Pride Schools for industrial training, and Lifeline Express for healthcare services in remote 
areas. 

 
 

TOPIC 3 : Social change Campaign in India (Case studies) 

According to Bigcommerce.com, “A social media campaign is a coordinated marketing effort to 
reinforce or assist the business goal using one or more social media platforms. Campaigns 
differ from everyday social media efforts because of their increased focus, targeting and 
measurability.” 

A social media campaign will work if it is in: 

A prolonged, sustained, two-way conversation across multiple channels that enables 

both parties to feel as though they have contributed and they have been heard. 

Social networks are beginning to have a bigger role in building community and catalysing 
neighbourhood co-operation and social action. The recent post-riot clean-up Twitter campaign 
was one example of how social media can be used to inspire people to get involved in 
community life. 

This was just one of the examples discussed at a round table event last week exploring the 
crossover of local communities and social media. Organised by Right Move Places and Civic 
Voices, it brought together some of the leading lights in hyperlocal online communities to 
discuss what role social media can play in supporting and mobilising communities. 

 
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India is in a transitional phase of development with the spread of Cyber Culture, Technology 
and Social Networking Sites. A new global culture i.e. a Consumer culture, with a panorama of 
goods and services, transnational fashions and cosmopolitan personal relationships has 
emerged. People redefine culture itself as a source of both individual and social identities, as 
computer networks circulate ideas, information and images throughout the world. Bill Gates 
(1995)22 .As more and more citizens gain access to broadband technologies in Indian society, 
an increasing number seeks social connectivity through the net. Social networking sites enable 
families and friends to converse in a way as if they are in the same place .  

The public has re-conceptualize the notion of a community after the introduction of social 
networking sites. These sites serve as platforms for political-social organization and are not 
simply used for personal interests. They are not simple sources of entertainment but are vital 
tools of communication and collaboration. Social networking sites indeed provides a visible 
stage in new ways and means that street protests and rallies cannot provide speakers and 
protestors.  

For instance, the significant role of social media in Gang Rape case in Delhi, the capital of India 
in December 2012 cannot be undermined. Facebook reached out to millions to join the 
movement against culprits. It was a huge platform for the Indian citizens to vent their outrage 
against the heinous crime. An online petition platform change.org received more than 65,000 
signatures for an appeal seeking the intervention of President Pranab Mukherjee and Chief 
Justice of India Altamas Kabir on the issue. A lot of web pages related to social issues like 
rape, murder,girls education, female foeticide, corruption etc. are created on various social 
networking sites. One such page is created by name ‘India against Corruption’ which has 
earned a widespread popularity. The chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi effectively used 
the social media to connect with netizens. Youth, who certainly are more attuned to digital 
culture are attracted by his political gimmicks. His proactive presence on social media helped 
him to win the assembly election.  

Anna Hazare, effectively used the social media to mobilize the youth and other segments of 
society, in his agitation on the Jan Lokpal Bill. His effective use of social media not only made it 
more global, but also garnered huge support in his campaign. Finally,in December 2013 Lokpal 
bill was enacted and the role of social media cannot be undermined in this historic event. It is 
also important to make a note of famous ‘Aarushi Murder Case’ in which role of social media 

 
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cannot be under estimated. The case was discussed on blogs and various social networking 
sites through which justice was demanded by netizens . 

It indicates that social networking sites are forces of integration for all the regions of the 
country including various castes, groups, cultures and minority groups.  

In addition to common people, many bureaucrats ,politicians and social activists are making 
their mark on social media. Social networking sites have brought changes in the thinking of 
Indian population who relied only on traditional media for awareness 

Even corporate organizations have integrated social media with internal communication to 
create a collaborative work environment. Social media-savvy organizations in India conduct 
campaigns on a regular basis where social media is the leading component.  

Companies use social media to frame strategies for new markets, address consumer 
grievances and communicate directly with target groups. However, the darker side of social 
networking sites has emerged in the form of Cyber crimes. Cyber crimes have become 
prominent on Social Networking Sites because of the simple fact that people reveal a lot about 
themselves on these sites.